Veeam Archivi — Pagina 6 di 8 — Gabriele Pelizzari

23 Settembre 202012 Gennaio 2023

VBR & Cloud a Business Model – Part 1

New articles to show which are the common business models that leverage the Veeam cloud technologies.

Today I’m going to cover two kinds of services:
A) Remoting Backup Data (RBD)
B) Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)

For every above service, the article will show the two options available:
1) Un-managed Service
2) Managed Service

The scope of these articles is to explain Roles, Tasks, Responsibilities, license management to have a big picture of the service models.

Note-1: If you need technical details on how to deploy and how to use these functions please refer to the official documentation and ask the local Veeam representative.

Let’s start!

1) What is an un-managed service?

It’s the way in which the service provider installs, maintains and manages hardware and software in its “sites” providing a reliable service.

The customer must handle all his configuration tasks to use the services bought from Service Provider.

The following example is an easy way to fix in mind what an un-managed service is.

Office365 (now Microsoft 365) provides e-mail, SharePoint, teams, one drive services. Microsoft itself is responsible to maintain the service up and running, but all the tasks to use it are in charge of the customer.

If you need more details about data & service responsibility on Microsoft 365 environment just take a look at the following pdf, if you want to know more about how to implement a service, please click here

AB-1) Un-managed Service & Remoting Backup Data & DRaaS

The technology supplying a Veeam Service is named cloud connect. The idea is creating a private and secure connection from the Tenant to the Service Provider side that makes shared resources available.

Picture 1 shows the backup flows and resources (Repositories) for RDB. Picture 2 shows the DRaaS flows and resources (Virtual Hosts).

Picture 1

Picture 2

Tasks and responsibilities:

SP administrator (Cloud Connect):

- Deploying the front-end CC Architecture (Gateway)
- Deploying the back-end CC architecture (Backup Server/Repository/Wan-Accelerator/vCD/VSPC/SQL…)
- For each Tenant, defining the resources to be provided (multi-tenant model)
- Using the VSPC to monitor and report on resource use

Tenant Administrator (From VBR console):

- Adding the Service Provider service discovering the purchased resources
- Setting up local backup jobs
- Setting up the backup copy job where the repository is the SP site
- Setting up the Replica job for DRaaS
- Performed Restore activities
- Performed Partial and Full Failover

How is it possible to measure the services?
Is it possible to show both the use to service provider & Tenant?

The answer is yes just using the Veeam Service Provider Console (if you are a Service Provider please take your life easier deploying the VSPC).

Which sort of measure can I get from it? Very detailed usage report that can be automatically sent to a Reseller and to the tenant (via e-mail also).

VCSP can be used also to create and manage invoices.

Note-2: VSPC is the license manager focal point where you can see through reports the license Status (Approved, Waiting for Approval) for a specific period of time (details available clicking to VCSP license and to the last article of this serie)

2) What is a managed service?

Managed services are the practice of outsourcing the responsibility for maintaining, and anticipating the need for a range of processes.

The schema used for 1AB can be used for 2AB as well

Tasks and responsibilities:

SP administrator (Cloud Connect):

- Deploying the front-end CC Architecture (Gateway)
- Deploying the back-end CC architecture (Backup Server/Repository/Wan-Accelerator/vCD/VSPC/SQL…)
- For each Tenant, defining the resources to be provided (multi-tenant model)
- Using the VSPC to monitor and report on resource use

SP administrator for Tenant Administrator (From VBR console):

- Adding the Service Provider service discovering the purchased resources
- Setting up local backup jobs
- Setting up the backup copy job where the repository is the SP site
- Setting up the Replica job for DRaaS
- Performed Restore activities
- Performed Partial and Full Failover

Here also the VSPC can be used as a central point of service management

Note-3:

The service providers using the pairing vCloud Director (vCD) technology and Veeam Cloud connect, can replicate production VMs directly inside the tenant virtual Data Center (vDC) as shown in Picture 3.

Picture 3

This approach simplifies not just network management (NSX) but also the cloud Service provider adoption.

A natural extension is the migration services of the tenant workload from on-premises to Cloud through Cloud Connect.

Is there a different way if a Service Provider/Tenant does not implement/use the Replicas job?

The answer is sure, and I named the use case as “Cold Disaster Recovery“.

The idea behind itis restoring the backup tenant files on SP virtual architecture.

To allow it to work it’s necessary:

a. The tenant has provided the backup file encryption password.

b. Since from the VBR console the SP can’t browse the tenant backup files (The VBR SP console in fact can just show if a backup is running), the SP has to implement a script to import backup data to SP Backup Server. Luckily you can get the script from Github (Thx to an Andrea Borella works).

c. Just now from the SP-VBR console at the menu “imported backup copy” will appear all backup copy job of the tenant, and the SP can restore VMs.

That’s all for today guys.

My next article will cover topics about vCLOUD DIRECTOR backup as an un-managed service.

The last one will talk about all you need to know about the licensing.

Stay tuned!

24 Settembre 20208 Gennaio 2022

VBR & Cloud Business Model – Part 2

In the previous article, I wrote a small pill about vCloud Director.

Today I’m going to expand the Business model that can be deployed through this great VMware technology.

Picture 1 shows the main components (VBR, Repository, Enterprise Manager and vCloud Director) mandatory to provide services.

As usual please refer to official guides to deploy correctly the Veeam technologies.

Picture 1

On the corners of the above picture, it’s possible to observe two funny images. The scope of those pictures is to show the services that the Serice Provider can sell: Managed, and un-managed.

Let’s start !!!!

a) Managed Service: Backup as a service on vCloud Director

In this scenario, the service provider will install VBR components and it will take care of all the backup and restore activities.

The tenant will open a ticket to Service Provider for asking backup policies changes and for restore tasks.

b) Un-managed Service: Backup as a Service vCloud Director

Tasks and responsibilities:

SP administrator (backup for vDC):

- - - Deploying the backup end architecture (VBR, Repository)
    - Defines templates for Backup jobs of the tenants (by selecting Repository and Quota) (picture 2)
    - If necessary apply schedule restrictions (picture 3)

Tenant Administrator (by Enterprise Manager):
Tenant through his vCD credentials can:

- - Create new backup jobs based on templates
  - Edit / Delete / Enable / Disable Jobs
  - Start, stop, restart jobs
  - View backup statistics
  - Restore VMs and vApps
  - Restore the VM guest files
  - Restore SQL Server and Oracle objects

Picture 2

Picture 3

That’s all for today folks.

The next article will show you all about licensing

28 Settembre 20208 Gennaio 2022

VBR & Cloud Business Model – Part 3

This article will cover the topic of license in VCSP scenarios.

Please refer to the official documentation to get more details on it.

The easiest way to explain the license model is by thinking of a basket.

a. What is present in the basket?
It is the container of the licenses. The licenses belong to the Service Provider.

b. What the Service Provider can do with licenses?
It can assign them to his customers (you can call them end-users or tenants).

c. Does the services consume different amounts of licenses?
The cost depends on the supplied service.

The example below will clarify the licensing method; the units I will use to explain the model are apples 🙂
(numbers written here are not real, contact the local Veeam sales representative to have a correct quote).

A Service Provider supplies three types of services to his customers;
DraaS, BaaS, RbcS(Remote Backup Copy Service)

Every single month the Service Provider buys 100 “apples” and put them into the basket.

Let’s suppose that:

1) DraaS consumes 10 apples for VM a month (VM/m)
2) BaaS 4 apples VM/m
3) RbcS 6 apples VM/m
4) Every tenant has 5 VMs
5) Service Provider customers are: Green – White – Red
6) Green bought DraaS
7) White bought BaaS
8) Red bought RbcS

How can I measure the apple-eating?
With an easy math operation 🙂

Green = 5VM*DraaS = 50 apples
White = 5 VM*BaaS = 20 apples
Red=5VM*BbcS=30 apples

Total = 100 Apples

Note 1: If the Service Provider adds new customers or the present tenants more VMs the Service Provider license can be enlarged on-fly easily contacting the Veeam team.

But, if the license count it’s quite simple with few customers it can be more difficult with hundreds of them.

In aid of of the Service Provider Veeam released a very useful and powerful software named Veeam Service Provider Console (VSPC)

What are the common VSPC use cases?

1) Remote monitoring and management
2) Licensing engine and usage reporting
3) Billing
4) Integration and automation (RestFul API)
5) Multi-tenant serviceability

(To have more details please click here)

Picture 1 shows which services can be managed via VSPC.

Picture 1

Please remember that cloud connect is mandatory work with VCSP.

The official guide shows the requirements to work with it:

Note 2: The software provided by Veeam enables any partner to create his own cloud services. To example performing a backup service for workstations and laptops of employees that working from home (a common scenario in these unlucky last months)

Note 3: To create a price list every single Service provider will have to add all costs of Infrastructure, Managing etc

That’s all for Cloud Modelling.

3 Settembre 20208 Gennaio 2022

Check Replica Status – Before deleting it – Part 1

Last month, a partner had to face up a strange VBR behavior.

From the VBR console he deleted a VM’s replica (Picture 1), and suddenly the production VM has been also erased (don’t worry, before doing any activity he tested the backups using sure backup technology).

Picture 1

The reason why it happened become clear to me once I read the logs.

To do it shortly, some weeks before someone started a Failover directly from vCENTER console without doing any communication to the internal IT team.

This article wants to explain how to avoid this common mistake.

The first step is understanding some basic concepts:

a) VMware identify any single VM with a number named MorefID and a UUID.

b) Any single operating system has an identifier named Instance UUID (Universal Unique IDentifier); in my lab, I set-up more than one replica job for a single VM

Table 1. row 2. shows the name of production VM (Ubuntu-02), its morefID (vm2270), where it is running (Milan), the UUID (…bcc12) and its VM UUID … f58b.

Table 1. row 3-4 shows the name of VMs replicas, morefID, instance UUID and its UUID.

All tables shown in these articles have been created using Veeam One

Name	PCName	morefID	DataCenter	Instance UUID	UUID
Ubuntu-02	ubuntu-02	vm-2270	Milan	502d2405-cc8f-de73-1a19-57e8496bcc12	564d013a-7835-9d1b-841e-32855790f58b
Ubuntu-02_Rep_VC01	ubuntu-02	vm-2694	Milan	502d2d90-d08f-08aa-efcf-d9feaa1d13f8	564d013a-7835-9d1b-841e-32855790f58b
Ubuntu-02_Rep_VCDR	ubuntu-02	vm-399	Venice	501d517b-672e-30e0-665a-fd4b4af7dcb6	564d013a-7835-9d1b-841e-32855790f58b

Table-1

Picture 2 shows the VM source (highlighted in yellow) from vCENTER console.

Picture 2

After checking up that the VM source is switched off, it’s possible to start a Failover (Picture 3).

Picture 3

The next five pictures show the step-by-step wizard to complete the procedure correctly. As you can see from picture 4 the VM that has been replicated with two different jobs (Picture 5) is always Ubuntu-02.

Picture 4

Picture 5

Pictures 6-8 show the result of the failover.

Picture 6

Picture 7

Picture 8

What happens when you complete the task with the Permanent failover? (Picture 9/10/11)

Picture 9

Picture 10

Picture 11

First of all, comparing picture 3 with 12 it is possible to see that one of the Replica Ready VM, and precisely the VM in permanent failover, has been deleted.

Picture 12

Picture 13 shows that now the replica job contains 0 objects. The right behavior is confirmed by pictures 14,15,16 and 17 where it is shown that the replica is not available anymore.

Picture 13

Picture 14

Picture 15

Picture 16

Picture 17

The cloning job option didn’t change the correct behavior (Pictures 18 and 19)

Picture 18

Picture 19

Let’s sum up. Following the right procedure, the Failover works as aspected

Now …. why the VM has been deleted? The next article will explain it in detail.

5 Settembre 202012 Gennaio 2023

Check Replica Status – Before deleting it – Part 2

My previous article explained the procedure to perform a failover from VBR console explaining why it is safe (Click here to read it)

In this second article, I’ll show you what can happen if you try a failover in a different way, answering the behavior that a partner had during a cleanup procedure.

In my lab, I created a new Replica Job where the original VM is still Ubuntu-02 (Picture 1) and the replica VM has the suffix _Rep_vc01-1-1 (Picture 2).

Picture 1

Picture 2

After the VM has been created (Picture 3) It is switched it on directly from the vCENTER console (Picture 4). To be sure it works as expected, it is possible to connect remotely.

Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5

Going back to VBR console it’s possible to see that nothing has changed (Picture 6) just because the power-on action has been performed directly from the VMware console,

Picture 6

Attention point: If you try to perform a replica task it fails because the VM is running (picture 7)

Picture 7

Now the main point of the two articles:

It’s a bad choice to delete VMs from VBR “Ready Replica VM” menu (picture 8/9) without knowing if the VMs have been started from vCENTER console. Why? Because also the production VM gets deleted as shown in picture 10.

Picture 8

Picture 9

Picture 10

Let’s get a little wild with some supposing:

1. If you see the “active” status icon switched on ( from VBR console) it means the failover is started (picture 11)

Picture 11

2. If a permanent failover was performed, the VM disappears from “Replica Ready” menu and replica job results to be empty (Picture 12)

Picture 12

3. If the replica job works fine it means that no permanent failover has been performed

4. If the replica Job works fine but when clicking on the delete button (from “Replica ready menu” of VBR console) (picture 13) the production VM disappears, it means that a new replica job has been re-created after the manual failover has been launched (picture 14).

Picture 13

Picture 14

Knowing that deleting a VM replicated from VBR console needs a little attention, especially if you do not have the continuous and complete control of the VMware architecture, the question is: is it possible to think an easy checking-up before deleting VM?

The answer is Yes and Veeam One can easily help just creating them.

a. From vCENTER: setting up a report that checks if the VM to be deleted is running (power state status) (Table 1)

b. From VBR: if a Replication job is setted-up for that VM (Table 2)

Table 1

Table2

Is there another way to check it up?

Yes. using Powershell scripts.

The example you can find here below is just the first idea that can be polished with a little bit of your effort.

NB1: I’m not a PowerShell expert, I just love writing scripts easy to read by anyone.

NB2: Before trying it please ask your PowerShell expert a consultant!

NB3: It is meant to be launched from VBR.

NB4: If you think that it can be a feature request write to me!

Table 3

That’s all for now guys!

7 Agosto 202012 Gennaio 2023

VDrO-Baseline 1

August’s 2022 topic is VDrO (former VAO)

This topic needs an awfully long time to be rightly covered. For this reason, I wrote 5 articles.

The first two will explain the base concepts in front of technology. The others will cover how to set up VDrO for managing the Veeam Replica job, the Veeam Backup job, and the Netapp Storage Replica.

Here below all the direct links to the topic:

Baseline-2 – VBR-Replicas – Veeam Backup – Netapp integration

In these articles, I will not manage how to install VDO software; please refer to the deployment guide (VDrO Guides).

VDrO – Baseline-1:

One of the common requirements of big companies is to automatically manage Disaster Recovery.

Let’s see the decisional process of the IT Manager

These are the VDrO answers.

Let’s move to the VDrO console:

The first steps after logging in (picture 1) is to click on the administrator tab (Yellow on picture 2) and check the license file installed (picture 3)

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Now I’m going to describe the structure of the software components.

VDrO Server: it shows where the VDrO Server has been installed (Picture 4)

Picture 4

The VDrO architecture is well-represented in picture 5 where three production sites replicate their data to a DR site.

Picture 5

Is it important to fill up the VDrO Server form? Yes, because VDrO creates automatically the DR- Plan documentation.

In my lab, I have just a production site and a DR site.

VDrO AGENTS: to control the activities of the Backup Server located in production sites, VDrO installs his own agent. The installation task is performed directly from the VDrO console (Picture 6).

Picture 6

vCENTER SERVERS: in my scenario, there are two vCenters; the first one in production and the second in DR site (Picture 7).

(Picture 7)

STORAGE SYSTEM: the most important VDrO news is the integration with storage replication technology. This version supports just Netapp. Picture 8 shows how to add the Storages to VDrO.

Picture 8

The last VDrO article will deal with how to set up and use this great technology.

RECOVERY LOCATION: it’s the place where the DR will be performed (Picture 9). It can be different locations in respect to where VDrO is installed.

Picture 9

In the next rows and pictures, I’ll show which info VDrO needs to work at its best.

In particular, I’m talking about the resources present in the recovery location. In this example the computer resources (Picture 10) and storage resources (picture 11).

Picture 10

Picture 11

The next 10 rows are very important to fix in mind.

How the VDrO can understand which resources are available? In other words, how can I assign resources to my Failover Plan?

The answer is VDrO uses massively tagging to all resources present at the VMware level.

Tagging means that resources can be added to VDRO

But …. is it possible to tag the resources?

Yes, It’s possible because inside VDrO there is the Veeam ONE Business-View component that can be freely used to tag resources.

To have more details about tagging please refer to the VDrO-guide.

One of the most common requests from the customers is to create automatic documentation about failover for both testing and procedures.

VDrO has already templates (in different languages that you can personalize at will) that are automatically filled up from software when you test or perform the Disaster Recovery.

In the next two pictures, it is shown how to set up an e-mail subscription (Picture 12) and configure the report Detail level (Picture 13).

Just remember to subscribe to the report to the right scope.

(Picture 12)

(Picture 13)

The next option is the reason why I fell in love with VDrO (Picture 14).

(Picture 14)

As you can see there is a big choice with DR plan steps. What does it mean?

Let’s see it with an easy example:

My DR plan requires switching on the Domain Controller (VM1) and afterward the SQL Application (VM2).

I want also to be sure that

a. the original VMs are switched off before starting the DR plan

b. when DR-plan is up and running, the SQL application has to answer port 1433.

What the VDrO can do for you?

With the pre-plan step, you can check the original VMs are switched off.

With a post-plan, you can check that the application answers correctly.

Another great point about plan steps is that you can choose if the actions have to be executed or skipped. In this way, it adds more flexibility to the solution.

(Picture 15)

Picture 16

It’s time to have a break. My next Article (VDrO – Baseline 2) will show scopes and plan components.